Artists's work captures 'dysfunction,' 'beauty'

Saturday

At first glance, the digital compositions of Kelly Bigelow Becerra are poignant, even playful, but also curiously unsettling.

At first glance, the digital compositions of Kelly Bigelow Becerra are poignant, even playful, but also curiously unsettling.

Although the early American folk art she has digitally emulated is familiar, tension brews in the images that place the viewer in the verdant countryside of rural Michigan.

At first, the childhood vignettes appear almost peaceful, but the idyllic lull that hooks the viewer fractures upon further scrutiny, revealing a sense of desolation and in some, abuse.

“My work deals with family dysfunction, the beauty of the landscape and the truthfulness of actual scanned objects,” said Becerra, who was helping with the installation early this week.

The Bridgeport-based artist recently returned from The Sundance Film Festival, where the film “Dear Beautiful,” which she co-wrote and co-produced with her husband, Roland Becerra, was screened.

The exhibit, titled “Bittersweet” is currently hanging at the Julian Akus Gallery at Eastern Connecticut State University.

The prints are bordered in a replication of how an embroidered sampler would look, with lines of stitches framing the work.

But further examination of the memories that are depicted inside the border are unsettling, featuring her aunt Diane, who frequently baby-sat Becerra while her mother worked.

Darkness seeps into aunt Diane’s face, and her mouth is compressed into a grim line as she strikes out at a young Becerra, jolting the viewer out of the complacent countryside that envelops the scene.

“I am consciously making a decision to make this work. I’m not asking for pity, I think of it as a relatable American story with a lot of quirks,” said Becerra, whose unflinching portrayal of her childhood also expresses poignancy.

“I had never seen anyone working with scans in this way - I thought it had a lot of potential. The way in which she mined her life and personal narrative, I thought was very courageous, bombastic even,” said Regine Basha, curator of “Full Circle,” an exhibit at the Aldrich Contemporary Museum in Ridgefield that Becerra was selected to show in.

“It made me think of black humor or film noir. She seems to find redemption in making work out of her childhood circumstances," said Basha.

The time-consuming process of scanning objects and people is painstakingly accurate. But these clinically culled images are created with an artist’s eye, heart and empathy.

Becerra, trained as a figure painter in Chicago for classical, large-scale work, has begun re-constructing her childhood environment with the help of a scanner. Nearly every object in the prints were scanned in Michigan — from blades of grass to a Coleman water cooler, then stored in files so later she can create the images with a collage technique using the computer as a sort of scissor.

The result is the opaque quality of collaging, yet some of the images — particularly people — are constructed with shortened limbs and flattened features, imparting a deliberate quelling quality to the work to reflect the artist’s childhood experience.

Becerra said she recalls the confines of her childhood - an emotional paradox given that they were situated on a large farm, and her extended family, with whom she spent much time, were trapped both in the area, and tradition.

That tradition is reflected in the early American folk art style - which Elizabeth Peterson, director of the Akus Gallery and who chose Becerra to do the solo show, remarked upon.

“Some people may just dismiss it out of hand as an overt sticky sweetness, there’s a prettiness and liveliness, an innocence and child-like quality that’s apparent,” said Peterson, who also noted that Becerra’s work is unique in the sense that she doesn’t know any other artist who digitally scans all the objects they use with a scanner and then build collages out of those images to create a print.

“What’s not immediately apparent is the isolation and off-putting scenes you are witnessing, and the technique adds to the narrative, because the technique is to do this digital layering of very flat and foreshortened images...it draws me in but it makes me fell trapped in the confines of the flattened, oppressive world,” said Peterson.

All the scenes are first sketched out in Becerra’s drawing pad, which will be on display at the exhibit. Mementos from her childhood will also be placed around the gallery as artifacts. To further immerse the viewer, she has created a soundtrack of sounds from Michigan: the buzzing of bees, the wind, country fiddling and birds.

And while the prints document and express a personal journey, the artist said the work will resonate with viewers.

“I am creating the most honest representation of who I am and I think it’s more relatable to a wider audience,” Becerra said.

When: The exhibit is currently up, and will run until March 12. An artists talk will be given 3 p.m Feb. 19 and an opening reception will follow from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. with the Quiet Corner Fiddlers performing.

Where: The Julian Akus Gallery is in the lower level of Shafer Hall, Eastern Connecticut State University, at the corner of Valley View and Windham Street, Willimantic.